4 May to 4 September 2016

The large-scale special exhibition “Athens: The Triumph of Imagery” took an entirely new look at the powerful pictoriality of high classical Athens along with its processions, sacrifices and festivals—while at the same time retold the fascinating myth of the city’s origin.

The life of Erechtheus and his virgin mother Athena dominated the cycle of the Attic calendar year and its rituals: from the festival celebrating the birth of the later king of Attica to the commemoration of his sacrificial death. Yet the tales not only inscribed themselves in the city’s ceremonies, but also served as the point of departure for a massive cultural and pictorial programme—perhaps the most ambitious ever to be carried out in the Western world.

In a compact scenographic staging, the visitor made his way through twelve rooms and thus through the twelve months of the Attic calendar. The exhibition united more than a hundred prominent loans from such major collections as the British Museum, the Louvre and the Vatican Museums. They were enhanced by graphic and media elements vividly illustrating the ancient myths and cults. High classical Athens and the cultural landscape of Attica thus presented themselves in all their primeval force.

Curator Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Brinkmann (Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung)
Sponsored by Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne
Media Partner Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main
Cultural Partner hr2-kultur